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Old 28th Dec 2017, 20:44
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Alchemy101
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Sydney
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They won't know the exact dose delivered until the scan is done, only an estimate.

Scout films are relatively little exposure.

CTCA does involve a fair whack of radiation, albeit less than a dobutamine MIBI. 3mSv is about a 1 year's background dose at least here in Australia. A lot of doctors are pretty keen to run people through the scanner, (sometimes) myself included, but often it's worth thinking about. I agree with Qwikstop that the absolute risk of cancer is low, but there are other tissue effects from radiation that paradoxically increase vascular disease etc to contend with as well. Also, my perspective is different as I order about ~300 CT scans yearly so it doesn't take me much time to cause harm.

I woudn't rush to have it done if a stress test is normal and your pain best matches a proven cervical radiculopathy, unless the cardiologist thinks you still need it for other reasons.

I often find patients are enthusiastic about getting tests done because they want to 'just make sure everything is OK', not realising that the vast majority of tests are completely useless as screening tests because the uncertainty and harms from the tests themselves outweigh the benefits, and in a poorly selected patient a negative result doesn't reassure in any way.

That doesn't mean that the tests don't have utility, but you need to pick patients with a reasonable pre-test probability, and where the test will change your management. From what you have shared, your pre test probability is low now - but talk to your cardiologist.
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